A Dorset based author has composed a ghoulish anthology of short stories with a modern twist.

When Reason Dreams, a book by Sherborne-based Jason Halsby, moves away from the traditional settings of ghostly tales within castles or Victorian houses- instead setting them in the modern world.

Mr Halsby realised that there was a lack of stories set in the modern day available for lovers of the genre.

He said: “Just because we can see the world on television, speak with people across the oceans and know exactly what causes natural phenomena, the happenings that so terrified our ancestors does not mean that ghosts have disappeared.

“Scientific progress has not buried the supernatural," he added.

Mr Halsby went on to say that he was ‘disappointed’ that most of the ghost stories he has read were based in the past and wanted to bring these extraordinary events into the twenty-first century.  

The chilling compilation covers tales written between 1995 to 2021. Scenarios in When Reason Dreams include children playing with long dead friendly apparitions, a haunted cruise ship, a man meeting his death lured by the ghost of a former lover, and a doctor who fails to save his wife’s death in a car accident and is ‘haunted to destruction’ by her spirit.

"I try to establish realistic scenarios before introducing the supernatural so that the stories are contemporary and believable. They were written for my own pleasure and I was delighted and surprised when Austin Macauley’s offered to publish them," he added. 

Mr Halsby has published seven books throughout his career, including the Art of Diana Armfield and the Dictionary of Scottish Painters. An avid artist and former lecturer of art in London Colleges, Mr Halsby is a member of the Sherborne Arts Society, the International Association of Art Critics and is an elected member of the Royal Society of British Arts.

 

When Reason Dreams is available from all independent bookshops and online retailers. The official launch of the book will take place at Butterfly House, Castle Gardens on Tuesday, February 1. Tickets for the launch are available from Winstone’s Bookshop on Cheap Street in Sherborne.